I just read an interesting article by Peter Pachal in Mashable's tech section, in which Mike Calce, the former hacker known as "mafiaboy," says most of today's hackers are motivated by the desire to make a quick buck. Calce makes some decent points, but I think he's unfairly swiping the entire hacking community with the same, big brush.

They're the bane of the IT security professional's existence when they're on the wrong side of the law, but the truth is, hackers often understand the nuances of network security better than your average CSO. So is it safe to bring a hacker into your IT team?

If you're worried about high-tech hackers using advanced and sinister techniques to break through your fancy firewalls -- well, that's not outside the realm of possibility. By all means, spend money on firewalls! But you might also want to keep in mind some distinctly low-tech security problems that are not particularly sophisticated -- in fact, some might call them distinctly dumb -- that nevertheless mean bad things for the companies or people who suffer them.

With several government websites hacked or defaced over the last few days, members of the hacker group âAnonymousâ have labelled the countryâs cyber security setup as a âjokeâ, and said they could easily hack into servers of most government organisations.

Point is that some things, no matter how lucrative or fun they might seem, just aren't worth the risk. Example: A life of crime can be rewarding or, more often, pretty tough. One day you are on top, the next you are busted. Literally and figuratively. If Jesse James is your role model, here are some things to avoid which will add years to your time on the street â as opposed to jail.

A self-confessed botnet operator has posted answers to readers' questions on the Reddit social news web site. He claims to control a relatively small botnet made up of approximately 10,000 bots based on the Zeus trojan. His answers paint an interesting picture.

No one who has seen it forgets the "Twilight Zone" episode about a town in Ohio that lives in terror of a 6-year-old born with godlike powers. One man who opposes the boy finds himself turned into a jack-in-a-box for thinking "bad thoughts." If the "hacktivist" collective known as Anonymous has something in common with a willful, dangerous child, then Aaron Barr is the adult who got in trouble for thinking bad thoughts.